DIY: Homemade Vanilla Extract

I don’t know about you, but I go through vanilla extract like water. A couple of years ago, I stopped messing around with the small bottles from the grocery store and started buying the 32-ounce bottle from King Arthur Flour. SO much easier than going to the store at least once a week for an insanely overpriced small bottle! I’ve finally taken it the DIY route and made my own, which is ridiculously easy. All you need are some good vanilla beans, your favorite bottle of vodka, and a little bit of patience.

Actually making the extract could not be easier. All you need to do is slice up some vanilla beans, combine them with vodka, place in a jar, and… wait. The mixture needs to sit for at least six weeks to be infused, but is even better if you stand to wait a little longer, say a few months. The smell of fresh vanilla extract is positively intoxicating!

When you’re ready to use the extract (or want to give it as a gift), simply strain it through coffee filters or cheesecloth and fill clean bottles (I bought 4-ounce clear Boston round bottles from SpecialtyBottles.com). You could even drop a couple of vanilla bean pieces into a bottle to keep the infusion going, if you’d like.

Homemade vanilla extract is such a perfect gift, not only for the holidays, but also has a hostess gift. There are tons of free printable labels online, as well, to spruce up your bottle.

With Christmas a little less than two months away, now is the perfect time to get started on some homemade vanilla extract!

DIY: Homemade Vanilla Extract

Making your own vanilla extract could not be easier! Grab some vanilla beans, your favorite bottle of vodka and get started!

Ingredients:

8 vanilla beans
1 cup vodka

Directions:

1. Slice the vanilla beans in half lengthwise. Using the tip of the paring knife or a spoon, scrape out the seeds and transfer to a small saucepan. Cut the empty bean pods into 1-inch pieces and add them to the saucepan.

2. Add the vodka, cover and cook over medium-low heat until the mixture is hot and steaming, about 2 minutes. (Do not open the lid while the pot is over the flame or the alcohol will ignite.)

3. Pour the mixture into a jar with a tight-fitting lid and let cool to room temperature. Cover with the lid and store in a dark place for at least 6 weeks (the longer, the better!), shaking the jar gently once a week.

4. Line a fine-mesh strainer with 2 coffee filters or 2 layers of cheesecloth, and place over a liquid measuring cup. Strain the vanilla through the filters, then transfer from the measuring cup to a clean jar with a tight-fitting lid. The vanilla extract will keep indefinitely at room temperature.

114 Responses to “DIY: Homemade Vanilla Extract”

I never knew that vanilla extract was made with vodka!!! It makes total sense, but I just never knew! Thank you for such a great gift idea. With Christmas only seven weeks away, I have just enough time to make this for my loved ones before Christmas!!

I have had my own jar brewing for years that I feed with vanilla sticks that are left after scraping out the seeds for other recipes. I also have a jar brewed in jack daniels which is amazing in cakes and other desserts as well. Oh and it’s just as easy to make other extracts. I also keep chocolate extract on hand using cocoa beans bought at the health good store

I’ve been making my own vanilla for a couple years. LOVE IT. Much cheaper in the long run. I have a batch I started about 15 months ago that I originally intended to give away but after aging it so long, it’s like a fine wine and I’ll be darned if I’m going to give that away. LOL I make mine with rum, vodka, bourbon, and whiskey. I use a variety of beans, usually madagascar but mix it up depending on how much $$ I want to invest per bottle. Great post, Michelle!

We have been making our own vanilla for years. We mainly use vodka, but we always make one batch with cognac to use in chocolate things. There’s something about the cognac vanilla that makes the chocolate items taste so good.

Hi Emily, No, not at all. Vodka is a pretty neutral-flavored liquor, which is why it is used. It picks up all of the vanilla flavor. All pure extracts are made with alcohol, so it would be no different than the bottle you buy at the store.

We started some limoncello, apple pie moonshine, and vanilla for gift giving this year. In a few days we will finish the limoncello, the moonshine will be ready to taste but the vanilla will have to continue for a while longer. It is much more interesting to say to others, “I made this myself.”

I also used to get the 32-oz jugs of vanilla from KAF, but it was getting pretty pricey. I actually started my DIY vanilla after my 32-oz bottle of vanilla bean paste ran out. There were still alot of vanilla seeds along the inside of the bottle that wouldn’t pour out. I did not want to throw them out so I poured in some vodka and swished around to release them from the sides of the bottle then added some chopped vanilla beans and more vodka and let it sit. I also have a large bottle of vodka that I added chopped vanilla beans to and that has become by “mother” vanilla. When the 32-oz bottle gets down to about half full, I top it off with the some of the “mother” and then add more vodka to the “mother”. About once a year, I throw in a couple more chopped vanilla beans to the “mother” bottle and I basically have an endless supply of vanilla this way. Just a tip, you do not have to split and scrape your beans to do this; Just chop the beans into about 1 – 2″ pieces and throw them in the bottle. This is a lot less time consuming than the slicing and scraping of lots of beans!

This looks so easy. I just bought a bottle of vodka this summer for ice cream making purposes…just need to get the beans. I use a fair amount of vanilla as well and have taken to purchasing 16oz bottles at either Costco or BJ’s…they run $6.99-7.99…much better than the tiny expensive bottles at the grocery store. Both stores sell McCormack as well as a store brand. I have tried both and there is not really any difference taste wise.

I’ve got 8 jars started to give as gifts this year. The recipes that use a certain number of beans bother me a bit as not all beans are equal. I go by weight to be consistent – 1oz of vanilla beans to 8oz of vodka (40%). With the beans I have going now, it ended up being around 15 beans per ounce. Grade B are actually better to use when making extract as they have less water content. My recipes have you cut the beans into slices around 1 inch long and shake the bottles each day for about a month. (Some say daily the first week and then a few times a week for the next 6 weeks or so.) This current batch is only a few days old, but it already smells divine. I still have about 1/2 the bottle of vodka left, so I am thinking about ordering another 1/4 pound of beans in a different variety and making that as a large batch. For me, the bottles were the most expensive part, and mainly due to shipping costs.

Buying Madagascar Bourbon beans for Uganda is contradicting since they are suppose to come from a specify area of islands which obviously doesn’t include Uganda since it is land locked and nearly 1700 miles away. Free trade or not thats false information. Plus why pay nearly double the price of what is on Beanilla for the real thing?

The CHEAPEST way to go about this is by always saving the vanilla pods after using them. They may seem empty, but there’s still tons of flavor. Throw em into liquor (vodka, bourbon, whiskey) and leave to infuse. It seems like a waste to use whole beans. Oh and straining? Not necessary unless you’re crazy and don’t like to see the specks of bean.

Blue Ice (made in the USA) Vodka comes in an Organic version (made from wheat). You might have to ask your local liquor store to special order it. http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1046668 is just one place that will give you an idea of description and price.

Great post, Michelle. And like Allison, I get my beans on ebay from Vanilla Products USA. They are really great beans for a great price. I’m curious about one thing, though. I’ve been using only homemade vanilla for several years (always have several bottles in different stages of “brewing,” but have never strained it. I always figured that the vanilla seeds in the finished extract just make it better. So I’m wondering if the purpose in pouring the liquid through cheesecloth is to get rid of the flecks that might be undesirable in a buttercream, etc., or is there another reason? Thanks!

Just like Allison and Emille, I bought my beans from Vanilla Products USA. I got my first and so far only batch over two years ago and they’re still going strong. I use the high grade ones for recipes and used the free extract beans you get with a certain volume to make my extract.
They also provide an extract recipe that is quite a bit simpler than the one listed here, even though that’s fairly simply as well. Basically, just cut up the beans (scraping the seeds is a waste of time), add to vodka (1/4 pound beans per quart, use weight rather than units) and store. Shake daily for a few weeks, then once a week. The extract will improve for several more months, taking the beans out is optional.
I would also caution you to use neither an expensive nor an inexpensive bottle of vodka. Expensive ones may be more delicate and introduce distinct flavours similar to other strong liquors while (really) cheap vodka can contain chemical notes. A Smirnoff or something similar is ideal in my opinion.

The stuff I buy (and pay quite a bit for since I also go through it like water) is quite a bit darker than in your picture. What causes the extract to be darker/lighter? Does it get darker the longer it sits?

Williams-Sonoma sells it for $11.95 for 1.9 oz but I found an organic .5 oz jar for much cheaper at HomeGoods. I tried your recipe today using the ground vanilla. Will keep you posted. Thanks for the great idea.

Eager to know if this works–my local organic/bulk store had ground vanilla bean powder, and I’d never heard of it. Been tempted to try it, but suspect it might be like cardamom–the pods are better than the ground powder…?

In Greece, they don’t use liquid vanilla, but use a powder. One sachet is equivalent to 1tsp liquid vanilla. I bet the powder you see is this alternative. It would not be worth trying to make “homemade vanilla” out of it

Well I made your recipe with ground organic vanilla the day the recipe was posted. Luck would have it, that I ran out of vanilla as my daughter and I were making Christmas cookies. My homemade vanilla got its last shake before I transferred it into the empty store bought vanilla bottle. I did not strain the contents. I thought it was very good but next time I’ll use a bit more ground vanilla to the vanilla recipe. Thx!

I don’t strain mine – love the little bean flecks in the vanilla. Stick used beans in a container of sugar for Vanilla Sugar.
I buy beans from Arizona Vanilla – they’ve got 20% off right now.
” To help you with your year end shopping we are offering 20% off all orders over $20.00 on all your vanilla, spices, sugar-free syrups and flavorings orders !! This great sale will end at the end of November!! So don’t miss out!! Just use coupon code Thanksgiving2013 in your shopping cart!!!”

I started making my own vanilla this past summer…I’ve ordered vanilla beans from http://www.olivenation.com after seeing some good reviews about them.
They have great beans, pricing, and fast shipping.

Somewhere somebody mentioned making sure you got food-safe bottles. They seem to be harder to find at a reasonable price (it’s usually the shipping that’s the killer). Do you know what makes the bottle food-safe?

Hi Margotgn, I’m not sure, if you are talking about plastic, you’d want to make sure it’s food-safe, but if you use glass you can use any glass bottle, just make sure they are washed well (either in the dishwasher or with hot soapy water) before using. I linked to the bottles I used above in the blog post.

This sucks. I live in a Muslim country. I’m not a Muslim, but that doesn’t mean alcohol is easy to come by, or cheap for that matter. I can’t try out this recipe! Isn’t there another way to make vanilla extract, without, you know, getting arrested for possessing or purchasing alcohol?

Hi if you google (how to make vanilla extract fugal living) the fugal living option has a non alcohol recipe. it uses veg. glycerin instead of alcohol. I haven’t tried it, but it looks almost the same just thicker.